A Genuine Piece of Ameriguano...The History of The MoonPie....

[Guest guest]

I remember reading what you are about to read on a box of

these " things " someone was ignorant enough to bring in and share with

the employees at one of my former places of employment. Aside from

whatever else they do to counteract good health, " MoonPies " are a

tremendous boon to dentists' bank accounts. Wait! Wait! I feel a

sudden inspiration coming over me! Yes! Here it comes---a wonderful

bit of verse that has only just now flashed into my mind...I must

write it quickly before it disappears forever....Yes! Here it is:

 

Ode To A Moonpie

 

NOTHING sticks to the teeth and gums

Like marshmallow,

chocolate

and graham cracker crumbs!

 

And now, without further ado:

 

" The History of the Great American MoonPie "

 

The Chattanooga Bakery was founded in the early 1900's as a

subsidiary of the Mountain City Flour Mill in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The bakery's original purpose was to use the excess flour produced by

the mill. By 1910, the bakery offered over 200 different

confectionery items. In 1917, the bakery developed a product which is

still known as the MoonPie. The exact history of how the MoonPie was

invented was never documented by the Chattanooga Bakery, but one

historian, Ronald Dickson of Charlotte, North Carolina, believes he

found the " missing link. "

 

In his book, " The Great American MoonPie Handbook " , Mr. Dickson had

written of the MoonPie's® lost history. Not long after his book was

published, he received a telephone call from Earl Mitchell, Jr.,

identifying his deceased father, Earl Mitchell, Sr., as the person

responsible for the invention of the MoonPie®.

 

Mr. Mitchell's story goes like this ... Early in the 1900s, while

servicing his territory of Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, Mr.

Mitchell was visiting a company store that catered to the coal

miners. He asked them what they might enjoy as a snack. The miners

said they wanted something for their lunch pails. It had to be solid

and filling. " About how big?,! " Mr. Mitchell asked. Well about that

time the moon was rising, so a miner held out his big hands, framing

the moon and said, " About that big! " So, with that in mind, Mr.

Mitchell headed back to the bakery with an idea. Upon his return he

noticed some of the workers dipping graham cookies into marshmallow

and laying them on the window sill to harden. So they added another

cookie and a generous coating of chocolate and sent them back for the

workers to try. In fact, they sent MoonPie® samples around with their

other salespeople, too. The response they got back was so enormous

that the MoonPie® became a regular item for the bakery.

 

By the late 1950's, the MoonPie® had grown in popularity, so much

that the bakery did not have the resources available to produce

anything else. The phrase " RC Cola and a MoonPie® " became well known

around the South, as many people enjoyed this delicious, bargain-

priced combination.

 

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If only Earl Mitchell, Sr. were alive to read my poem...alas...

 

Best wishes,

 

Elliot